The Goblin King's Discovery
by Yva J
Summary: Jareth discovers through an encounter with a child Aboveground, that even wishes ought not always be taken literally.


_I just wrote this tonight for the heck of it. Probably because I saw this writing on our street near a school yesterday and I kept thinking about what a little girl would feel about having her name there. Having been teased as a child, I suppose in some ways, I would have probably made some wishes myself._

_Anyway, like I said, it's just something that I felt sort of inspired to write.

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**The Goblin King's Discovery**

By: Yva J.

Eight-year-old Madeline Reinhold stared down at the sidewalk that was just in front of her school. She had tears rolling down her cheeks and every so often she would wipe them away with flat palm of her hand. The orange colored chalk writing seemed to stare back up at her, the uneven writing reminding her that she was an outcast.

_Madeline is stupid_, were the words that were written there, in broad daylight for everyone to read. It tore her to pieces to see this, and from the depths of her heart, she wished that the mean boys who had written those words would just leave her alone. Being the new kid in school was not fun, and yet, that was what she was.

"I hate them," she whispered under her breath, her words filling the calmness of the late summer day. School had just reconvened that week, and she was literally drowning in misery. The tears continued to fall, and she kept her eyes closed not even seeing the white colored barn owl, which flew over her head and perched itself in a nearby true.

She sat down on the ground and stared at the writing. With a tiny hand, she reached over and touched the cement, thus feeling the roughness of it. "I wish I could just disappear; that someone magical would just come and take me away from this horrible place."

As she spoke, the barn owl left its perch in the tree and flew down to where she was seated. Landing, it took the form of Jareth, the Goblin King. Instead of speaking, he simply watched the child as she cried.

It was very rare for people to formulate their wishes in such a way. Here was a child not wishing her cruel classmates away, but instead wishing herself away. Such a child would not make for a goblin, he decided, but he knew that if she did wish for the goblins to take her away, then that is what would have happened. She was, essentially safe from him or any other inhabitant of the Underground as a result of her wording.

He regarded the child for several moments before shifting his gaze and staring at the words, which covered the sidewalk. "Madeline is stupid," he muttered under his breath as the child raised her head. Instead of speaking further, he sadly shook his head, thus negating those words.

For her part, Madeline took in Jareth's strange mode of dress and the puck rocker style hair that domed his head. Instead of acknowledging his words, she backed away from him. It was no longer important what he was saying, she simply wanted to get away from his daunting presence.

"Are you Madeline?" He asked, his voice causing her to stop dead in her tracks. "Is that why you are raising such a fuss and making impossible wishes?"

The child raised her head briefly, her unhappy eyes momentarily meeting those of the Goblin King. Instead of speaking, she tried to wipe the tears away, before lowering her head and staring shamefully at the cement.

"I take it you are, and that you are crying because of someone else's foolish actions," Jareth said. "Do you think you are stupid, Madeline?"

"No," the child said.

"Then why do you care so much about what some fool writes on a piece of cement?" He asked as he crouched down so that he would be eye-level with her. "Take these words to heart; if I worried about the horrid things that people have said about me, then I would not be what I am now, would I?"

"What are you?" She asked softly.

Jareth smiled as he conjured a crystal and watched as the child's eyes widened. "Let me show you." As he spoke, the crystal panned around the massive Labyrinth, the Goblin City, and the castle, which he resided.

"It's beautiful," Madeline said, her soft voice laced in authenticity. "You must be really special."

"Perhaps, but do not underestimate your worth in trying to compare yourself to me," he said as the crystal vanished. "You do not need a castle or a vast kingdom to realize your potential." He took a deep breath as his next words emerged. "The next time you meet those dastardly fellows who scrawled those words onto this path, look them squarely in the eyes and say the following words: _You have no power over me!_"

"Does it work?" She asked.

Jareth nodded as a look of sorrow shadowed his face. "Yes, in fact, it works far better than you will ever know."

Madeline looked at him, her eyes somehow reading the pain that seemed to embody him. "If those words really make you sad, then why do you tell me to say them?"

Jareth took a deep breath. "It is of no consequence, Madeline," he said as he glanced skyward. "But, heed these words, the next time you decide to make a wish, be very careful. The wish you make could possibly come true and it may not be anything that you expected or desired."

The little girl nodded as she, without any sort of fear or trepidation, leaned over and kissed Jareth's cheek. "Thank you for making me feel better."

The Goblin King nodded as the child stood up and walked away. He remained there for several moments, his eyes still on the sidewalk where the words were scribbled. Without so much as a word, he brought forth a second crystal and with it rolling about in his hand, he allowed it to fall over the writing.

As it hit the ground it splashed about as though it were water tipping from a bucket. As the words disappeared from view, he smiled slightly. "That was what Madeline really wanted," he whispered under his breath. "Perhaps Sarah's wish was no different and I ought not take things too literally."

With those words filling him, Jareth transformed himself back into the owl and flew away.

The End


End file.
